[ M-F-T to -devel ]
On Thu, Apr 07, 2011 at 06:00:09PM +0200, Stefano Zacchiroli wrote:
> Another thread, another thread summary! Here is a summary about where we
> are on this discussion, at least as far as I can tell.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
<snip>
> I would love if we can summarize the above part by saying that we have
> consensus on: 1) announcing at the beginning of a release cycle a target
> freeze month, 2) refining it later on.
This seems to be uncontroversial; modulo the fact that *if* the freeze
month is not absolute but relative (to the start of the cycle), people
might want to have a round of consultations with the release team before
a proposal is made. [1]
> - On the other hand, a wide open front of the discussion is *when* to
> freeze, with various people arguing in favor of having a specific
> period, such as "we freeze on $month every even/odd year".
Also considering the potential problems discussed, no objections have
been raised to such a scheme either. It seems this is something we might
want to try out.
Independently of the above, I've also received a few comments in private
mails on the risks that announcing a precise freeze day in advance
(i.e. close to the freeze month, according to the discussed scheme)
might be prone to "last-minute uploads" issues. While I understand the
problem, it seems to me that the alternative option of impromptu freeze
announces has its own set of problems (reducing the ability to plan in
advance and upsetting developers) which I believe outweighs the
advantages. All in all, this specific choice seems to be independent of
the general scheme of deciding a freeze month and stick to it.
Dear Release Team ... good luck in proposing a freeze month now :-)
Cheers.
[1] In my opinion, this is another argument in favor of absolute freeze
months, as it would make the whole cycle more resilient to
communication inertia (something we are trying to fight in general,
in several project areas), but I cannot claim this is part of
consensus as I'm introducing it only now.
--
Stefano Zacchiroli -o- PhD in Computer Science \ PostDoc @ Univ. Paris 7
zack@{upsilon.cc,pps.jussieu.fr,debian.org} -<>- http://upsilon.cc/zack/
Quando anche i santi ti voltano le spalle, | . |. I've fans everywhere
ti resta John Fante -- V. Capossela .......| ..: |.......... -- C. Adams